Alone, friendless and frightened, the old lady would not listen to reason. Only an operation could save her, the doctor had said, but she wanted no operation. Let her die. No, there was no family to callno one at all, except "the Alliance." Willing to try anything, the doctor called the Educational Alliance on Jefferson Street in Manhattan's lower East Side.
Alliance Director A. Harold Murray hurried to the hospital. He spoke to the exasperated doctor, then to the bewildered old lady. What, she wanted to know, was this operation? Murray explained. Well, she said, if Mr. Murray said it was O.K.,...